I Nearly Went Blind

 I rub my eyes. The inventory report on the screen in front of me blurred. I went to the washroom. Was I falling asleep at work? Why was I feeling this blurry vision? Am I experiencing age related macular degeneration?

 

"Eunice, have you spoken to the other department about their purchases for the upcoming

month?" the purchaser director walked over to my desk and asked me.

 

"No, sorry, I’m feeling kind of unwell now. I’m experiencing some blurry vision today,” I told my purchaser director.

 

“Take care, take MC if you need to go see the eye doctor,” she responded.

 

“No, it’s ok, there’s alot to be done today,” I brushed it aside. I’ll just sleep

earlier tonight I think.

Blurry vision can affect your productivity at work

 

When I went home that night, I read some newspapers after dinner. But I had to

squint and it became really blurry. I rubbed my eyes. The dark blurriness didn’t go away. But I’m only 48, I can’t have any age related macular degeneration!

 

A week later, the problem was still persisting, and I was having an increasingly difficult time focusing at work due to the blurry vision. It wasn’t always

Medical Centre, I was exposed to gynaecology a lot more than eye care. I asked blurry, but I would have episodes throughout the day. Working at Thomson around my friends for a reputable eye surgeon, and they recommended a few to me. After going online to search them up, I decided on one of them.

 

Going for the eye check up appointment

 

I took MC, and visited the eye surgeon's office for my appointment.

 

The eye surgeon first did a comprehensive dilated eye exam. Then he did a test called optical coherence tomogram that allows him to see the back of my eye.

 

"The results show that you're experiencing early onset of macular degeneration. Although you're a bit young to be having this condition. Did anyone in your family face this

before?" the eye doctor asked.

 

"My dad did face some vision problems in his 70s, which is rather common for his

age," I replied. Was this family history the reason for my early onset?

 

"It's good that you came right after a week of experiencing this! You could go blind

faster if you delay treatment!" The eye surgeon shared.

 

 

Blindness can ensue if treatment is delayed

 

He then went on to describe the two possible treatments. Photodynamic therapy is a treatment that uses light-activated drugs.

Photodynamic therapy works like this — The inactive form of said medication is put into a syringe and administered into a vein in the arm. It then migrates to the abnormal blood vessels in the macula where it builds up. Special cold laser activated on the new blood vessels in the region. light of low intensity is shone at the retina, as a result of which the drug is

The second treatment type is intravitreal injections. This treatment delivers anti-vascular drugs directly into the blood vessels in the eye by a quick and painless procedure. The abnormal blood vessels are then suppressed. The suppression of these abnormal blood vessels will then lead to alleviate

symptoms of age related macular degeneration. 

 

I took the eye surgeon’s advice and went for the eye treatment. I am still young and I want to protect my eyes for as long as I can! A side note to all my dodgy websites online that may give you the wrong advice.  friends: Do seek professional medical advice whenever possible. Do not look up If you are unclear, always give a call to your eye doctor to ask. 

 

 

What is Diabetic Macular Edema and how to treat it?

Biologically speaking, if 'edema' were to happen anywhere in the body, it would mean that fluid has leaked out of blood vessels and caused tissue swelling. For those who suffer from a complication of diabetes that affects the eyes, otherwise known as diabetic retinopathy, 'edema' is used.

 

While the retina is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, the macula is located at the centre part of the retina responsible for sharp, straight-ahead vision.

 

The buildup of fluid results in the swelling of the macula, causing distorted vision.

Blurry or wavy vision is a symptom of macular edema

 

You will want to keep a lookout for symptoms of macular edema such as blurry or wavy vision near or in the center of your field of vision. Colors might also appear washed out or faded.

 

Diabetic macular edema is more likely to happen at a later stage as the diabetes worsens. Poor blood sugar control and high blood pressure can increase the risk of blindness for people with diabetic macular edema.

 

Treatment types for Diabetic Macular Edema

 

Treatment is largely based on the root cause of your macular edema. For example, diabetes or high blood pressure is first treated, then the damage in the retina is next treated.

Speak to an eye specialist for treatment options

 

Anti-VEGF injections

 

VEGF, short for vascular endothelial growth factor, is a protein that increases problems such as leaking blood vessels and swelling. Anti-VEGF drugs such as Avastin, Eylea, and Lucentis block this protein.

 

During the treatment session, numbing drops are first applied to the eye. A short thin needle is then used to inject medication into the fluid in the center of the eye.

 

Anti inflammatory treatments

 

Corticosteroid treatments are anti inflammatory drugs administered via eye drops, pills or injections of sustained corticosteroids into or around the eye.

 

For the implant option, it releases small doses of medicine slowly, so you won't need a series of shots. Your doctor places it in your eye with a special device. And it dissolves over time, so you don't need to have the implant taken out.

 

However, corticosteroids can increase your risk for cataracts and glaucoma, so it's important to get regular eye exams to check for signs of this problem.

 

Laser photocoagulation

 

There are two types, focal laser treatment and scatter laser treatment.

 

For focal lasers, leaks from abnormal blood vessels are treated with laser burns. This can stop or slow the leakage of blood and fluid in the eye.

 

Scatter laser treatment shrinks abnormal blood vessels. The areas aside from the macula are treated with scattered laser burns. Burns cause abnormal new blood vessels to shrink and scar.

 

Laser therapy can help prevent further loss of vision. These treatments are long term as you'll need several laser treatments to repair eye damage.

 

Your vision will be blurry for about a day after the procedure. Some loss of peripheral vision or night vision after the procedure is possible.

 

Vitrectomy

 

This procedure uses a tiny incision in your eye to remove blood from the middle of the eye and scar tissue that's tugging on the retina. It's done in a surgery center or hospital using local or general anesthesia.

 

 

Go for regular eye check ups

 

Some ways to prevent diabetic macular edema include maintaining a healthy lifestyle, exercising regularly (exercising your eyes as well) and eating lots of vegetables and fruit. You can take it a step further and visit your eye surgeon or doctor at least once a year to stay on top of your eye health. 

"Dr Natasha Lim Made my Mum See Again! Yeppie!"

 "Dr. Natasha Lim made my mum see again! Yeppie!"

Here is a story about how my mum recovered from Cataract after undergoing a Cataract Surgery. One year, we went to see Dr. Natasha Lim as my mum’s eyesight was progressively getting worse. The clinic was mentioned in a TV advert for how it helps to see a cataract surgeon if ever the eyesight of your mum, dad, aunt, uncle, or elderly is suffering from bad eyesight. 

 After doing my research, I saw that Dr. Natasha Lim had great reviews on her clinic and so I planned for a visit with Mum. So often, we see reviews and recommendations from online or by family friends, and without knowing what to expect we just know that the doctor will be good. First time seeing a doctor in Singapore and you know they’re either very experienced or not. 

 

When visiting Dr. Natasha Lim, she was extremely professional, knowledgeable, and helpful in providing a solution for my mum’s eyesight. As a newcomer to her clinic both mum and I were impressed with the service, advanced technology used, and their system is going through an appointment from start to finish. The design of the clinic was also well set up and maintained to use the latest equipment and technology to treat patients. I knew this because mum's cataract surgery was done so efficiently and smoothly. 

cataract in my mum’s eyes

When going in for her appointment, mum’s eyesight had already been pretty bad and progressively getting worse. It is not until she could not see the labels on packages at the supermarket or texts on her phone that could not be enlarged any more or her vision for color was getting deteriorated. Throughout the years, mum never complained much about her eyesight bothering her. Only until recent months, almost 6 months ago did she start to mention her difficulties in reading. 

technology to cure cataract

Diagnosis of Cataract in my mother’s eyes

Later on, after visiting Dr. Natasha Lim, she diagnosed my mum with having cataract surgeon and asked for my mum to go for cataract surgery within a few weeks. They had all the facilities to carry out the surgery at the clinic and Mum was very pleased to have Dr. Natasha Lim to do the procedure. 

 After reading up on cataract surgeons in Singapore and where is the best place to go to get cataract surgery done, we were sure that doing it there is safe and one of the top locations. We were happy and more comfortable knowing that Dr. Natasha Lim is a certified surgeon with a Ph.D. and has had a lot of experience. Mum underwent the laser cataract surgery on Friday and it was perfectly done with the least complications and stress. 

 

dr Natasha Lim winning a prize

The procedure took about 20-30 minutes and mum said she was in the calmest state she thought she would be in as she was quite agitated. After the procedure, mum was taken to a resting room before bringing her home to rest. Luckily mum went to Dr Natasha Lim and will continue to see her to monitor my mum's eyes. She has said she feels so much better after the cataract surgery Singapore

Is Lasik Safe?

Is Lasik safe? Yes, says Edward Manche, MD, a professor of ophthalmology and division chief of Cornea and Refractive Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. "The FDA has approved it and reaffirmed its safety," he says. "There are certainly patients who've had some problems, but the vast majority of people do extremely well."

LASIK Pros

LASIK, which stands for laser-assisted in situ keratomileuses, is a type of refractive surgery. The surgeon first cuts a thin flap of tissue from the front of the eye. Then, a laser burns away tissue to reshape the cornea so that light focuses better on the retina in the back of the eye. LASIK can correct vision problems like nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

In the 20 years since LASIK has been around, doctors in the U.S. have performed more than 19 million of these procedures. There haven't been many high-quality, long-term studies done on the outcomes, but the research that does exist finds the procedure to be safe and effective.

Better Vision Through Surgery

" Lasik surgery is a really good procedure," "It's been able to change the lives of a lot of people, giving them excellent vision and letting them be free of their glasses or contact lenses."

More than 90% of people who have LASIK achieve 20/20 vision, meaning they can see from 20 feet away what a person with normal vision should be able to see at that distance, without glasses or contact lenses. More than 99% of people end up with 20/40 or better vision, which is clear enough to pass a driver's license exam.

Improvements in the procedure over the years have made LASIK even more effective. "The results have gotten steadily better and better over time as we've gotten more advanced technology," The femtosecond laser, introduced in 2001, uses pulses of light to cut a flap in the cornea. Femtosecond lasers have revolutionized the procedure, offering greater safety and precision than a blade.

Other advances in technology allow the creation of a customized map of the cornea, which allows for more precise vision correction and better outcomes. "The idea is to reduce higher-order aberrations, which can cause glare, halos at night, and things like that,"

LASIK Cons

The main side effects with LASIK are mild-- including dry eye, burning, and itching, which affect 20% to 40% of people who have the procedure. These symptoms usually peak around 3 months after the surgery and disappear within 5 to 12 months-- but not always.



Also common are glare and halos around lights at night, and difficulty with contrast. These problems affect about 20% of people who have LASIK. They also can improve over 5 to 12 months, but in a small number of people, they continue long-term. If you have one of these issues, you can go back to wearing glasses or contacts, or have revision surgery.

LASIK greatly improved her vision, despite some side effects.

There's also a small chance LASIK may not completely correct your vision, especially if you were very nearsighted or farsighted to start. If this happens, you'll need glasses or contacts to see clearly. "If you're not fully corrected ... you can return after 3 to 5 months and have additional surgery," "In those cases, the vast majority of patients do achieve 20/20 vision."

Your goal should be to consult an ophthalmologist who specializes in refractive surgery and who is able to provide all the different procedures available.

You can then discuss the pros and cons of each method with the doctor before making a decision. 

Dr. Natasha Lim
director and consultant ophthalmologist

at the Dr. Natasha Lim Eye Centre

at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital

Lasik no issue for cataract op

Q: I am 33 years old. I was told that if I do Lasik now, I will have problems doing cataract Singapore in future when I am older. Is that true? 

A: This is not true. Successful cataract surgery is possible for people who have had laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (Lasik). 

The surgical success rate would be exactly the same as that of an eye that has never had Lasik, as it is technically not any more different or difficult to perform cataract surgery on a post-Lasik eye than it is on a virgin eye. 

Lasik surgery in Singapore   is a type of refractive surgery that corrects common vision problems, such as myopia (short-sightedness), astigmatism (when the eye surface is not round but resembles a rugby ball) and presbyopia (long-sightedness). 

The corrective surgery enables the person to see clearly without spectacles. In 1999, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved Lasik for use in the US and the technique quickly gained popularity with patients. 

Today, Lasik is the single most common refractive procedure in the world, with over 40 million procedures performed. 

Whether you have had Lasik or not, everyone develops cataracts around the age of 60. This is due to the ageing process of the natural lens inside each of our eyes. 

Given that Singapore has one of the highest rates of myopia in the world, many cataract patients here may have had Lasik in the past. These patients would still wish to remain spectacle-free after their cataract surgery. 

Some eye surgeons may say that the results of cataract surgery in post-Lasik eyes are unpredictable. They may want old records of your eye measurements before Lasik surgery. 

In the past, the calculation formula for lens implant power used during cataract surgery was based on the pre-Lasik spectacle prescription and cornea curvatures. 

But advances in calculation formula, cataract surgery techniques and lens implants in the last 10 years have entirely changed the landscape of refractive surgery. Several advanced mathematical formulas have emerged, and these are used for precise calculation of lens implant power in post-Lasik eyes. The modern and more accurate formulas require no prior data at all. 

Additionally, they provide greater refractive accuracy. 

This allows surgeons to use premium lens implants for total correction of astigmatism and multi-focal implants for presbyopia correction in post-Lasik eyes. 

New and innovative mono-focal and multi-focal lens implant designs to correct presbyopia can now improve refractive outcomes without sacrificing visual quality. 

For those who have had mono-vision Lasik in their 40s and are used to it, it is advisable for them to maintain mono-vision, by undergoing cataract surgery with mono-vision lens implants. 

Mono-vision is where one eye is corrected for seeing far distances while the other eye is corrected for near vision. 

But some patients will opt for multi-focal lens implants. It is a misconception that multi-focal lens implants can not be used in post-Lasik eyes. Highly specialised refractive surgeons who handle both Lasik and cataract surgery are able to achieve accurate results and good outcomes with multi-focal implants. 

This has been shown by many published studies worldwide. 

Today, patients' vision can be dialled back a few decades in time, even if they have had an earlier Lasik procedure. 

Director and consultant ophthalmologist at the Dr Natasha Lim Eye Centre at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital 

What is cataract surgery in Singapore and is it painful

Do you experience problems seeing due to cloudy vision that even spectacles can not help? In this case, you could have a cataract, a condition in which the clear lens of the eye becomes cloudy, preventing sufficient light rays from entering the eye and impairing vision. You need a cataract surgery. 

In cataract surgery, the lens inside your eye that has become cloudy is removed and replaced with an artificial lens (called an intraocular lens, or IOL) to restore clear vision. The procedure is performed on an outpatient basis and does not require other care facility. 

Cataract is common in the elderly due to ageing. Prolonged ultra-violet light exposure, long term use of medications such as steroids and certain illnesses like diabetes are also risk factors for the development of cataracts. Cataract can be present at birth or develop as a result of injury. 

The first sign of cataract is usually blurring of vision. Other complaints may include frequent change of glasses due to increasing short-sightedness in the adults, colours appearing dull, poor vision in bright light, glare, haloes around lights, difficulty reading or watching television or driving at night. 

Singapore cataract surgery will usually be advised by your surgeon when your poor vision caused by cataract can not be corrected with glasses and interferes with your daily activities. 

When going through cataract surgery Singapore, you are sedated. This is not a general anaesthetic, and you do remain awake during the cataract surgery. There is no discomfort associated with sedation, which puts you into a 'twilight' state. While you can still respond to basic instructions from the surgeon, such as 'look at the light,' you will often have little memory of the Singapore cataract surgery afterwards. One minute you're talking to the anaesthetist, the next you are being offered tea and refreshments after your procedure is complete. It is not a painful cataract surgery. 

After your cataract surgery, you will need to administer eye-drops into the operated eye at regular intervals for up to 4 weeks. Light activities and good hygiene are advised. Potential contaminants to the healing wound such as from swimming and hair-washing should be avoided. 

You should return for check-ups at one day, within one week and at about a month from your Singapore cataract surgery. click more laser cataract surgery

Is presbyopia correction a risky operation?

Presbyopia is an age-related condition of the eye in which the eye slowly loses the ability to focus quickly on objects that are close. It is a natural disorder that affects everyone, even those who have had no prior problems, typically occurring around the age of 40. Eye specialist believes that presbyopia is caused by changes to the lens inside the eyes. 

condition-of-presbyopia 

When young, the lens of the eyes is usually flexible, relatively elastic and the muscles surrounding it would easily reshape and adjust to accommodate both close and distant images. However, with age the lens and the muscles lose its flexibility and elasticity, becoming more stiff and rigid. Eye doctor believes that this would prevent the lens from changing its shape as quickly as it could, constricting the eye's ability to focus light directly onto your retina. 

presbyopia correction Singapore

The first few signs of presbyopia are the gradual deterioration in the ability to read, having difficulty in reading small print or having eyestrain as well as headaches after reading or doing work up close. Patients would usually need to squint or adjust their reading materials to the 'appropriate' distance as well as require a brighter light to read or do work up close. Patients with presbyopia would also easily feel fatigue from doing all the tasks mentioned above and would have a problem seeing or focusing on objects that are up close. Today, there are many simple yet highly successful ways to correct refractive errors and conditions with little to no risk involved at all. 

presbyopia-correction-implanting-a-multi-focal-lens 

Before any presbyopia correction can be done, eye specialist would first assess patients to determine if they are suffering from cataracts. If they do, patients are presented with a choice between multi-focal lens technology or mono-focal lens technology for the lens implant surgery. These implants would be implanted during cataract surgery, removing all refractive errors including the likes of myopia, astigmatism and presbyopia to achieve spectacle-free vision. While it is implanted in the eye, multi-focal lens implants work similar to wearing 'progressive' spectacles which allow distance, intermediate and near focus. The brain will neuro-adapt to the multi-focal visual system postoperatively and will automatically select the eye to focus at whatever is the required distance. 

On the other hand, mono-focal lens implant sets one eye for near vision, while the other mono focal lens implant sets the other eye to see the distance. The process of neuro-adaptation for mono-vision usually takes slightly longer, a week or two for the brain to adjust and begin to use the eyes naturally in a mono-vision manner. According to eye doctor, patients will never have to worry about spectacles and cataracts ever again as the power carried in the implanted lens are stable for the rest of the patient's life and cataracts can never return after it is removed. Both procedures take 15 minutes and is performed under local anaesthesia. 

Younger patients with presbyopia but no cataract should be able to opt for LASIK as a presbyopia correction procedure. LASIK uses a laser to correct the shape of the lens, treating any refractive errors and restoring perfect vision. It corrects one eye's focus for far vision and correct the other eye's focus for near vision. The brain would merge these two images, enabling the patient to see relatively well at all distances. While it is a simple 10-minute pain-free procedure, LASIK mono-vision does not prevent cataract  formation.